Dressing device for armless people.



Q. D. GO RLEY. DRESSING DEVICE FOR ARMLESS PEOPLE.

APYLIGATION FILED MAR. 26. 1912.

Patented Feb. 25, 1913.

CuLUMBlA PLANDGRAIII C0..WA3HINOTON. D. c.

QUENTIN D.CORLEY, OF DALLAS, TEXAS.

DRESSING DEVICE FOR ARMLESS PEOPLE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 26, 1912.

Patented Feb. 25, 1913.

Serial No. 686,288.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, QUENTIN D. Conner, citizen of the United States, residing at Dallas, in the county of Dallas and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dressing Devices for Armless People, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a new and useful device to assist armless persons in dressing, and its object is to provide a mechanical contrivance that will enable an armless man to button and unbutton his own shirt and collar, and to attach his neck-tie in place or to remove the same, without the assistance of other persons.

The object is more specifically to provide an apparatus adapted to be clamped to the back of a chair or some other piece of furniture, and comprising a button fastener, a pair of peculiarly formed pliers suitable for holding a neck-tie when the same is being attached to or removed from a collar, and a small adjustable mirror.

Another object is to provide means to adjust the various parts of the device, such that the adjustment may be accomplished readily by any form of artificial hand or hook substitute for a hand.

Finally, the object of the invention is to provide a device of the character described, that will be strong, durable, simple and efficient, and one, the various parts of which will not be likely to get out of working order.

With these and various other objects in view, my invention has relation to certain novel features of the construction and operation, an example of which is described in the following specification, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the invention, the support upon which it is clamped being shown in dash lines, and the jaws of the pliers being shown gripping a neck-tie in such a manner that it may be attached to a collar without the use of hands. Fig; 2 is a detail, perspective view of a channeled bracket which is employed in the device to support the shank of the pivoted frame which receives the mirror.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing wherein like reference characters designate similar parts in both the figures, the numerals land 2 respectively denote a horizontal connecting member and the vertical leg members of a U-shaped clamping device, the leg members 2 being made to straddle the support 3 to which the clamping device is secured. In one of the leg members 2 of the clamping device, a horizontal clan'iping screw 4 is threaded, said screw being provided upon its outer end with a crank 5 for the purpose of manually communicating rotation to the screw. The other extremity of the clamping screw which projects between the legs .2 is adapted to bear against a clamping plate (3 hung by its upper extremity from the horizontal member 1 of the clamping dey'ice, a rectangular aperture 7 being provided in said extremity of the plate 6 to receive the horizon-- tal member 1. The plate 6 is adapted to undergo a sliding displacement relative to the member 1, and under the force impressed upon it by the screw 4 said plate is made to bear firmly against one surface of the support 3, the other leg 2 of the clamping device being made to bear against the opposite surface of said support.

It is to be observed that the means provided to impress rotation upon the screw i is such that any form of artificial hand or hook attachment for artificial arms may be employed to accomplish the desired rotation. Upon the outer surface of the leg 2 through which the screw 4 is passed, a plate 8 is vertically mounted, the upper portion of said plate being slightly spaced from the correlated leg, and the lower portion being mounted upon the screw at and adapted to be clamped firmly against the correlated leg by means of a winged nut 9. A channel shaped bracket 10, having its web member removed at one extremity, is adapted to have its closed extremity fitted over the portion of the leg upon which the plate 8 is mounted, the web portion of the member 10 being clamped between said leg and the plate 8. At the upper extremity of the member 10, from which extremity the web has been removed, a pair of opposite apertures are provided in the parallel walls of the member 10 and through said apertures is passed a screw provided with a large apertured head 11.

Upon this screw, bet-ween the parallel walls means of the'clamping screw 11, the mirror may be held 1n various positions of angular adjustment to meet the convenience of the person using the apparatus. The upper extremities of the arms 12 are provided with fingers 14 which grip the upper edge of the mirror 15, and at the juncture of the arms 12 with the shank 12 a shoulder 13 is provided to support the lower edge of the mirror.

At the point where the leg 2, which in conjunction with the plate 6, engages the support 3, joins the horizontal member 1 of the clamp, an arm 16 projects rigidly out ward at a slight upward inclination. From the outer end of this arm there is supported a pair of pliers comprising two handle members 17 and 18, respectively connected with jaws 19 and 20 and pivoted one upon the other at a point 21. The lowermost handle member 17 has its free extremity pivotally secured to the free end of the arm 16 by means of a clamping screw 22. The clamping screw 22 makes it possible to swing the pliers into various positions of adjustment. The end portions of the jaws19 and 20 are turned downward at an angle of approximately 45 degrees, and the portions thus bent are made to grip a neck-tie designated by the numeral 20. The neck-tie 20" is one of that variety in common use which are made up in a permanentform and are provided upon their middle portion with a keeper 21" of inverted U-shape adapted to receive the head of a collar button. A spring 23 interposed between the two handle memhers 17 and 18 performs the function of holding the two jaws of the pliers slightly spaced, as is clearly shown in Fig. l of the drawings. The uppermost arm 18 has its extremity bent upward and over to the form of a hook, which hook receives the upper end of a cord 24. The cord 24 extends downwardly passing over the top of the support 3, and its lower end may be secured to any common and well known foot pedal resting upon the floor upon which the support 3 also rests. The hook formed at the extremity of the upper handle member 18 of the pliers is closed by a spring keeper 25, thus preventing the cord 24 from being accidentally dislodged from said hook. To the uppermost jaw of the pliers is secured a button fastener, comprising a wire loop 26, having its end portion bent up at an inclination of approximately 45 degrees, the inner end of said loop being attached to a metal plate 27 adapted to be adjusted in various relations to the correlated jaw 19 by means of a clamping screw 28.

The person using the above-described invention, after having first clamped the apparatus upon the back of a chair or some other support, proceeds to adjust the mirror to such a position thatthe pliers will be seen reflected therein by 'a person having his head positioned at an elevation slightly above the pliers. In fastening a button of a shirt, undershirt, or collar, the loop 26 will be passed through the button-hole and made to engage the button. By pulling back slightly from the device, the person using the same will cause the button to be drawn through the buttonhole, and the loop 26 may then be disengaged from the button, and the process repeated in fastening anotherbutton.

In putting on a. neck-tie, the person using the apparatus, inserts the tie between the jaws of the pliers, as is shown in Fig. 1. In order to lift the tie in place between the jaws of the pliers, the person using the apparatus must, of course, be provided with some form of artificial hand or the equivalent thereof in the form of a hook. After the tie is placed between the awe of the pliers, the latter may be made to secure a firm grip upon the tie by exerting pressure upon the foot pedal or equivalent device carried by the lower end of the cord 24. Without releasing the tension in the cord 24, the person using the apparatus, will assume a position such that his chin is just above the jaws of the pliers, thus bringing the front of his collar adjacent to the neck-tie. By utilizing the mirror 15, and by slightly moving the upper portion of his body, the person using the apparatus, can insert the head of the button at the front of his collar within the keeper 21 carried by the necktie 20. The tension upon the cord 24 may now be released and the person using the apparatus may straighten the tie by the use of his hook attachment or artificial hand. The apparatus is used in a very similar manner when the neck-tie is being taken off. By assuming the proper position with relation to 5 the jaws of the pliers, said jaws may be made to engage the neck-tie, and while this engagement is maintained through a tension upon the cord 24, the party using the device moves the upper portion of his body slightly 11o downward, thus withdrawing the collar button from the keeper carried by the collar.

It has hitherto been impossible for any person deprived of their hands to button a shirt or undershirt or collar, or to put on 115 and take o-fi' a necktie without the assist-- ance of other persons.

The invention above-described will permit an armless person to accomplish all of the operations specified without assistance, and 120 will make it practicable for such a person to dress and undress without requiring help from other persons.

The invention is presented as including all such changes and modifications as come 125 within the scope of the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a dressing device for armless people, the combination with a clamping member, by means of which said device may be 130 clamped to the back of a chair or some other piece of furniture, of an arm carried by said clamping member, a pair of pliers having the extremity of one handle secured to said arm and adapted to be held in various positions of angular adjustment relative to said arm.

2. In a dressing device for armless people, the combination with a clamping member, by means of which said device may be clamped to the back of a chair or some other piece of furniture, of an arm carried by said clamping member, a pair of pliers having the extremity of one handle adjustably secured to said arm, said pliers having their jaw extremities bent in the same direction, a spring serving to hold the plier jaws normally spaced, and a foot operated means for closing said plier jaws.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

QUENTIN D. COR-LEY. \Vitnesses V J. S. MURRAY, D. O. RAMSEY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

